Tuesday, June 30, 2015

As you know it was supposed to start airing this Autumn on Sunday nights at ABC, but new historical seriesOF KINGS AND PROPHETS has been pushed to Mid Season in order for the producers to fix all the weak spots and improve the story. That also means some recasting, so the new face to be added to the cast is Nathaniel Parker as the cagey, shrewd and lethal King Achish, the King of Philistia who has been warring with King Saul (Ray Winstone) for years. The new series is an epic Biblical saga of faith, ambition and betrayal as told through the eyes of a battle-weary king, a powerful and resentful prophet and a resourceful young shepherd on a collision course with destiny.

'FEAR THE WALKING DEAD'

GETS 1ST POSTER & CAST PHOTO

Meanwhile, first poster and cast photo have been released for THE WALKING DEAD companion seriesFEAR THE WALKING DEAD which should hit the small screens in more than 150 countries around the world later this summer, in August to be more precise!

Kim Dickens leads the cast of the series, as a school guidance
counsellor Madison living in Los Angeles at the beginning of the zombie
apocalypse.
She is sceptical when she hears of the spreading zombie virus, but soon
realises that she and her family are in grave danger.
Cliff Curtis plays her fiancé Travis, Frank Dillane plays her dropout
son Nick, and Alycia Debnam Carey is her responsible daughter Alicia.
The series, which, apparently, won't include as much zombies as its
older sister series, will also have Rubén Blades, Elizabeth Rodriguez
and Sandrine Holt in the cast.

Monday, June 29, 2015

It is such a poor weekend, people, that the only thing I have for you are atmospheric first posters for Chinese action blockbuster THE GHOULS which is hitting Asian cinemas this December! Directed by visual genius Wuershan who helmed PAINTED SKIN, the $37 million movie stars Chinese star Shu Qui, alongside Chen Kun, Huang Bo, Yao Chen. A huge part of the film, which will have international distribution too, was shot in New York.

CHEN KUN AND SHU QUI Based on the popular online novel 'Ghost Blows Out the Light' by
Chinese author Zhang Muye, THE GHOULS is set at the beginning
of the 1990s, when famous tomb explorer Hu Bayi (Chen Kun) decided to retire
and move to the United States with his fiancée Shirley (Shu Qui). But
before his wedding, Bayi discovers his first love Ding Shitian, who
supposedly had died in the "One Hundred Cave" 20 years ago, is actually
still alive. Together with Shirley and his old exploration partner, Bayi
unravels a terrible millennium-old secret! Check out the teaser:

The latest one to join BBC Films big screen adaptation of famous Arthur Ransome children classic SWALLOWS AND AMAZONS is GAME OF THRONES and STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS star Gwendoline Christie! As 'Deadline' reports she joins Rafe Spall, Kelly Macdonald, Andrew Scott, Harry Enfield and Jessica Hynes in the film, which revolves around four children in 1929 on holiday with their mother in the Lake District. They are allowed to sail over to the nearby island in their boat Swallow and set up camp for a few days, but soon realize this has been the territory of two other girls who sail the Amazon, and the scene is set for serious rivalry.

'MARCO POLO' 2ND SEASON

RON YUAN IS PRINCE NAYAN Meanwhile, in today's television news, last winter's Netflix hit
series MARCO POLO is, as you know, preparing their second season and
they already have a new cast member: FAST AND FURIOUS star Ron Yuan will
play Prince Nayan in the second run of the epic series which follow’s MARCO POLO ’s (Lorenzo Richelmy) adventures, as he fights greed, betrayal
and rivalries in Kublai Khan’s court. As you remember, the first season
of the extremely expensive series has ended with Marco and the Mongols
taking over Chinese court! Ron Yuan will also appear in INDEPENDENCE DAY
II.

PARAMOUNT TO ADAPT

'GREENGLASS HOUSE' NOVEL

Deadline also reports that Paramount is about to buy a six figure high movie rights on bestselling children novel GREENGLASS HOUSE from Kate Milford with plans to turn it into a possible movie franchise which will follow a 12-year-old innkeeper’s adopted son Milo who realizes that guests checking into his father’s inn all have a connection to the house. Milo’s home/inn soon becomes populated with mysterious guests each one with stories stranger than the next — and all connected to the old house. As objects go missing and tempers flare, Milo must decipher clues and untangle the web of deepening mysteries to discover the truth about the GREENGLASS HOUSE.

As 'Deadline' reports Joseph Fiennes will lead the cast in CHARIOTS OF FIRE follow up movie THE LAST RACE which will follow Scottish runner Eric Liddell after his win at the 1924 Paris Olympics, looking at his life in China, where he worked as a missionary and died in 1945 in a Japanese internment camp.

He was originally born in China in 1902 to Christian missionaries.
His faith was of profound importance to him. He won gold in the 400m
race in the 1924 Olympics but refused to take part in the 100m as it
took place on the Sabbath. After returning to China, he was eventually
sent to a Japanese internment camp in 1943 following Japan’s invasion of
China six years earlier. He would die there of a brain tumour.

SEE DOUBLE TOM HARDY

IN 'LEGEND' ACTION PACKED TRAILER WITH EMILY BROWNING

The only trailer I have for you today is for Tom Hardy's and Emily Browning's new movie LEGEND! From Oscar winner Brian Helgeland (L.A. Confidential, Mystic River) comes the true story of the rise and fall of London’s most notorious gangsters, Reggie and Ron Kray, both portrayed by Tom Hardy in a double performance. It's a classic crime thriller taking us into the secret history of the 1960s and the extraordinary events that secured the infamy of the Kray twins.

The absolute TV star of 2015, Taraji P. Henson (that body from the photo has an 18 year old son, by the way) is joining EMPIRE's creator Danny Strong in THE BEST OF ENEMIES which he is producing. As 'Deadline' reports Taraji will play Ann Atwater, the ferocious civil rights activist in Durham, North Carolina who had a decade long battle with sworn enemy C.P. Ellis, from Durham’s Ku Klux Klan. Their feud came to an abrupt and unlikely end in 1971. After a court ordered school desegregation decree threw the Southern city into turmoil, Atwater and Ellis reluctantly agreed to co-chair an intensive, two week community meeting to try to reach a compromise. The extraordinary events that followed changed Durham, and the lives of Atwater and Ellis forever.

'UNDERGROUND' EPIC SERIES

JUSSIE SMOLLET TO GUEST STARMeanwhile, charismatic Jussie Smollett, who plays Taraji's ultra
talented son in EMPIRE, will also guest star in two episodes of new epic
series UNDERGROUND WGN America’s pre-Civil War series follows a group
of slaves who plan a daring escape from a Georgia plantation to cross
600 miles to freedom. They are aided along the way by a secret
abolitionist couple running a station on the UNDERGROUND Railroad, as
they evade those tasked with bringing them back — dead or alive. Jussie
Smollett will beJosey, a wild-eyed runaway who doesn’t trust anyone, not
even those stationed along the way who would try to help him. The regular cast includes Christopher Meloni, Marc Blucas, Jessica De Gouw...

'SLEEPING WITH OTHER PEOPLE'

TRAILER WITH JASON SUDEIKIS, ADAM BRODY & ALISON BRIE

The first trailer has been released for romantic comedy with Jason Sudeikis and Allison BrieSLEEPING WITH OTHER PEOPLE where they are college buddies who meet 12 years later at a sex addicts meeting. Because of their monogamy-challenged ways, neither can maintain a relationship, so they make a pact to keep their new relationship platonic. Like that’s gonna last. Adam Brody and Amanda Peet also star!

In today's TV news, ITV has found the lead star for their intriguing new historical series HOUDINI & DOYLE: the period drama following the real-life friendship of Sherlock Holmes writer Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and illusionist Harry Houdini will see Stephen Mangan and Michael Weston leading the cast. Mangan will be Doyle, prolific writer and paranormal aficionado, while Weston will be Houdini, master magician, escape artist and paranormal debunker.
Set at the turn of the 20th century, the drama will explore their unique friendship and how they both worked with New Scotland Yard on unsolved crimes. Rebecca Liddiard will play Constable Adelaide Stratton, the first female PC to work for the London Metropolitan Police Force. Tim McInnerny will play Inspector Horace Merring, while Adam Nagaitis will appear as Sergeant George Gudgett.

'THE NIGHTINGALE' BESTSELLER

GETS BIG SCREEN ADAPTATION Meanwhile, a book that has spent more than 20 weeks on New York
Times' bestseller list, THE NIGHTINGALE will get its big screen
adaptation. CHRONICLES OF NARNIA's Ann Peacock will pen the script at
TriStar based on the book by Kristin Hannah (it is her 21st book),
published a few months ago, an epic family drama about two sisters
living in France during WWII in which the story follows them as one
becomes a prisoner in her own home and the other fights for the
resistance.

'THE LAST KINGDOM' TEASER

ALEXANDER DREYMON, MATTHEW MACFADYEN EPIC TV SERIES

And I don't know how I missed the first teaser for BBC 2's and BBC America's THE LAST KINGDOM epic series, even though it's constantly on my radar, but here it is now! It stars Alexander Dreymon, Rutger Hauer and Matthew McFadyen, with the story set in the late 9th century, when England was separated into several kingdoms. The Anglo-Saxon lands are attacked and in many instances ruled by Viking forces. The kingdom of Wessex has been left standing alone under the command of King Alfred the Great. Dreymon's Uhtred - the orphaned son of a Saxon nobleman, is kidnapped by Norsemen and raised as one of them. Forced to choose between a kingdom that shares his ancestry and the people of his upbringing, his loyalties are ever tested.

While his latest disaster movie SAN ANDREAS is shaking the earth this summer with its earnings growing close to $500 million worldwide, action superstar Dwayne Johnson is ready for some RAMPAGE too! As 'Deadline' reports he will next star in the big screen adaptation of RAMPAGE arcade game which was hugely popular back in the 80's! The story of the game involved three giant monsters - a gorilla, a lizard and a wolf, that wreak havoc on major cities and landmarks across North America. That is until Dwayne the Rock Johnson gets in their way, of course. The movie is scheduled at New Line for next summer release.

'MIDNIGHT SUN'

PATRICK SCHWARZENEGGER & BELLA THORNE LEAD THE CASTMeanwhile, the son of another huge action star, Patrick
Schwarze- negger will lead the cast of new Young Adult big screen
adaptation together with Bella Thorne. It will be a remake of a 2006
Japanese film MIDNIGHT SUN with the story revolving around Katie (Bella
Thorne), a 17-year-old sheltered since childhood and confined to her
house during the day by a rare disease that makes even the smallest
amount of sunlight deadly. Fate intervenes when she meets Charlie
(Patrick Schwarzenegger) and they embark on a summer romance.

NEW 'SELF/LESS' POSTER

RYAN REYNOLDS, BEN KINGSLEY AND MATTHEW GOODE

And in the vein of the new posters I posted yesterday, here's another one for the new movie coming from our fave director visual genius Tarsem Singh (and his first film without the costumes of brilliant late Eiko Ishioka)! SELF/LESS a sf thriller out this July and starring Ryan Reynolds, Ben Kingsley and Matthew Goode. An extremely wealthy man (Ben Kingsley), dying from cancer, undergoes a radical medical procedure that transfers his consciousness into the body of a healthy young man (Ryan Reynolds). But all is not as it seems when he starts to uncover the mystery of the body's origin and the organization that will kill to protect its cause.

Poster day today, people, starting with the new one for epic adventure DRAGON BLADE which will finally hit US cinemas this September following the fight for the Silk Road, where East and West collide. When corrupt Roman leader Tiberius (Adrien Brody) arrives with a giant army to claim the Silk Road, Huo An (Jackie Chan) and his group of trained warriors teams up with an elite legion of defected Roman soldiers led by General Lucius (John Cusack) to maintain the delicate balance of power in the region. To protect his country and his new friends, Huo An gathers the warriors of thirty-six ethnic nations together to fight Tiberius in an incredible epic battle.

NEW 'TALE OF TALES' POSTER

SALMA HAYEK AS THE QUEEN Another epic story to get a new poster is Italian bizarre, yet
visually stunning, fairy tale drama TALE OF TALES based on a 17th
century collection of fairy tales by Italian author Giambattista Basile! The movie weaves realistic and fantastical elements together into three different storylines, with Salma Hayek playing the Queen of Longtrellis and John C. Reilly as her King, Vincent Cassel as the King of Strongcliff and Toby Jones as the King of HighHills. It will compete at film festivals around Europe this year!

'THE 33' GETS FIRST POSTER

ANTONIO BANDERAS, RODRIGO SANTORO, JULIETTE BINOCHE

And then there's a new, or to be more precise, the very first poster for real life drama THE 33 with the story based on the real-life event from Chile a few years ago, when a gold and copper mine collapsed, trapping 33 miners underground for 69 days. Antonio Banderas, Rodrigo Santoro, Juliette Binoche, James Brolin, Lou Diamond Phillips and Gabriel Byrne star. The movie hits Chilean cinemas this August and will move into the American ones in November ahead of the Oscar award season.

Monday, June 22, 2015

Now, here's something stunning to start of the first day of summer in proper style: exactly a year ago lavish Turkish epic series THE MAGNIFICENT CENTURY ended its worldwide rule and now the same production team is ready to launch an even more lavish one KOSEM SULTANA series this September! Today, you can feast your eyes on the very first photos depicting gorgeous Turkish star Hulya Avsar in the full costume as the 16th century Safiye Sultana the mother of Sultan Mehmed III. As you can see her gowns are done in English style since she maintained good relations with Elizabeth I with whom she had personal correspondence. If I got it right (my Turkish ain't so good) the white cat is also a gift from the English monarch. As I've reported earlierBeren Saat will play the lead role of KOSEM SULTANA, Sultan Ahmed I
will be played by Erkan Kolcak Kostendil, while Yıldız Çağrı Atiksoy
will be Ayshe Sultana. The preparations took almost a year and a whole
Ottoman city was built for the series.

SULTA- NATE OF WOMENSimilarly to Hurrem Sultana, who was the hero of MAGNIFI- CENT CENTURY,
Safiye also rose from being a slave in the harem to becoming sultana
after she was chosen by Hurem's daughter in law Nurbanu Sultana to be the wife of her son future
sultan Murad. The main star of the series is of course KOSEM SULTANA,
the wife of Safiye's grandson Ahmed I. She was a
prominent figure during the Sultanate of Women (which started with the
rule of Hurrem Sultana). She was official regent twice and was thereby
one of only two women to have been formal rulers of the Ottoman Empire.
She came to the sultan's palace in Istanbul as a 15 year old slave girl,
but quickly became influential in the harem which will be shown in the
new series.

Two of the popular comedians who are used to acting in television comedies are coming back to the small screens and they're doing it together: as 'Deadline' reports Danny Masterson and Ashton Kutcher will star together in THE RANCH multi camera sitcom at Netflix! The two stars, who became famous starring together in THAT 70'S SHOW after which Kutcher had comedy gig in TWO AND A HALF MAN while Masterson was the star of MEN AT WORK sitcom, will play siblings in the new sitcom coming from the creators of TWO AND A HALF MEN Don Reo and Jim Patterson!

BROTHERS ON THE RANCH The new sitcom, THE RANCH, which is to be shot in 20 episodes divided
into two ten episode runs within the same year, will have the story
set on a Colorado ranch, with Ashton Kutcher’s character returning home
after a brief semi-pro football career to run the family business with
his brother, played by Danny Masterson.

'45 YEARS' TRAILER

TRIUMPH OF EMOTIONS

The only trailer I have for you today is a wonderful one for Berlin Film Festival winner movie drama 45 YEARS which is out in Europe this August. Written and directed by Andrew Haigh, it is based on a short story by David Constantine and follows Kate and Geoff Mercer (Charlotte Rampling and Tom Courtenay) in the week leading up to a party to celebrate their 45th anniversary. But when the body of Geoff’s first love, Katya, is found in a Swiss glacier where he lost her 50 years earlier, it brings up some long buried insecurities about the foundation of their relationship.

Well, this is certainly a rather nice cast: our most beloved and utterly charming Russell Tovey has joined BBC and AMC new mini series THE NIGHT MANAGER lead by our equally beloved Tom Hiddleston! The small screen adaptation of John le Carre's novel stars Tom Hiddleston as an ex soldier named Jonathan Pine, who is recruited for the British intelligence service by the mysterious Burr (Olivia Colman). Jonathan Pine is sent to investigate an alliance between Washington DC, Whitehall and a major arms dealer by infiltrating weapons trader Richard Onslow Roper's (Hugh Laurie) gang. Douglas Hodge, Tom Hollander and Alistair Petrie are also in the cast.

'LET IT SNOW' STORY BOOK

GETS 2016 MOVIE ADAPTATION Yet another book that your dearest Dezzy is translating this year,
the collection of stories LET IS NOW from John Green (The Fault In Our
Stars),Maureen Johnson (13 Little Blue Envelopes) and Lauren Myracle
(Internet Girls) is finally moving on with the adaptation! Universal
will release the film in December 2016! The project which I mentioned
for the first time four years ago,
will see PITCH PERFECT's Kay Cannon pen the script for the romantic
festive film in which charming interconnected tales of love, romance,
and breathtaking kisses are set in a little
town stranded in a Christmas snowstorm. With sparkling white snowdrifts,
beautiful presents wrapped in ribbons, and multicoloured lights
glittering in the night through the falling snow a small town gets
transformed into a romantic haven.

'LEADING LADY' TRAILER

KATHY MCGRATH & GIL BELLOWS

Check out the delightful romantic trailer for new comedy movie LEADING LADY in which Katie McGrath plays an idealistic British drama school teacher, Jodi Rutherford, who persuades a cynical South African farmer to prepare her for a role in a major film as an Afrikaans war heroine. In return Jodi undertakes to direct the annual concert on the Willemse farm. Jodi's interaction with the quirky small town citizens and the stubborn Kobus, teaches her that: "there is more to life than lights... camera... and action!" Bok Van Blerk and Gil Bellows also star.

Friday, June 19, 2015

One of this year's hottest TV faces and also the hottest of THE HOBBIT dwarves out there, POLDARK's Aidan Turner has scored a role in dark comedy LOOK AWAY next to Matthew Broderick, Chloë Sevigny, and Shannon Tarbet. According to 'Deadline' Turner will play the love interest to Tarbet’s main character, an offbeat young woman who is unable to physically see her mother due to a fictional affliction called selective blindness.

'DURRELL'S' PERIOD SET SERIES

Meanwhile, British ITV will turn Gerald Durrell's Corfu memoirs (including MY FAMILY AND OTHER ANIMALS) into THE DURRELLS six part series set in the 1930s and telling the story of Louisa Durrell, whose money is running out and whose four children are going off the rails after the death of her husband.
The family move to Corfu to make a new life for themselves, but still face plenty of challenges.

'THE CROWN' EPIC SERIES

MATT SMITH IS PRINCE PHILIP, JOHN LITHGOW CHURCHILL The news I reported earlier last year on Claire Foy getting the lead
role in expensive Netflix drama THE CROWN has been confirmed now with
John Lithgow and Matt Smith added to the cast as well! In the sprawling
series Foy will be Queen Elizabeth II, Lithgow is Churchill, while Smith
will play Philip Mountbatten, Duke of Edinburgh! Stephen Daldry is
directing the inside story of two of the most famous addresses in the
world – Buckingham Palace and 10 Downing Street – and the intrigues,
love lives and machinations behind the great events that shaped the
second half of the 20th century. Vanessa Kirby was mentioned previously
as the possible actress to play queen's sister Princess Margaret.

'BOULEVARD' TRAILER

ROBIN WILLIAMS' HEART WRENCHING LAST MASTERPIECE

Something really nice as your today's trailer - the first footage from Robin Williams' moving last ever role in touching drama BOULEVARD! He is playing an ageing husband emotionally struggling with his life who, as a lonely married man, befriends a male prostitute (Roberto Aguire) as he faces up to his own hidden homosexuality. It's out next month!

One of those films that we keep reporting for years with different actors (from Keanu to Reese), is definitely sf movie PASSENGERS. Earlier last winter we reported that Chris Pratt could take the lead role and now Sony is moving on with the project giving him Jennifer Lawrence as the possible female lead. That would mean currently two of the most profitable stars leading the $150 million movie set on an interstellar journey that will take nearly a century to complete. Chris Pratt will play a man who wakes up just ten years into the voyage, and decides to awaken a female passenger (Jennifer Lawrence) so he doesn't die alone, but then they discover a malfunction on the ship that could put all of their lives at risk.

'CRIMSON PEAK' POSTERS

WITH HIDDLESTON & HUNNAM New character posters have been revealed for Gothic horror movie
CRIMSON PEAK showing the lead stars Tom Hiddleston, Charlie Hunnam and
Jessica Chastain. The movie arrives into theatres in October just in
time for Halloween with Mia Wasikowska playing a young woman who, when
her heart is stolen by a seductive stranger (Tom Hiddle Me Here, Hiddle
Me There), is swept away to a house atop a mountain of blood-red clay: a
place ﬁlled with secrets that will haunt her forever. Between desire
and darkness, between mystery and madness, lies the truth behind Crimson
Peak.

'SECRET LIFE OF PETS' GETS

WONDERFUL FIRST TEASER!

The first absolutely hilarious and utterly delightful movie teaser has been released for new animated movie SECRET LIFE OF PETScoming out next year from the creators of record breaking animated blockbuster DESPICABLE ME! The story of the charming movie deals with the question - what do our pets do when we leave them at home alone! Kevin Hart, Ellie Kemper, Lake Bell and Albert Brooks are in the voice cast!

Although it was first ordered for series and then cancelled at NBC years ago new fantasy series EMERALD CITY is again back in production with the lead actress announced! AdriaArjona will lead the ten episode epic series which draws upon events from L Frank Baum's popular 14 book WIZARD OF OZ novel series!
In EMERALD CITY, in the blink of a tornado’s eye, 20-year-old Dorothy Gale (Adria Arjona) and her K9 police dog are transported to another world, one far removed from our own, a mystical land of competing kingdoms, lethal warriors, dark magic and a bloody battle for supremacy. This is the fabled Land of Oz in a way you’ve never seen before, where wicked witches don’t stay dead for long and a young girl becomes a headstrong warrior who holds the fate of kingdoms in her hands.

GAIMAN'S 'AMERICAN GODS'

ORDERED INTO SERIES AT STARZ Yet another show which has been announced a couple of times and then
ditched is alive again over at Starz! Neil Gaiman's AMERICAN GODS will
be turned into series by HANNIBAL and PUSHING DAISIES Bryan Fuller. As
'Deadline' reports it follows a war brewing between old and new gods:
the traditional gods of biblical and mythological roots from around the
world steadily losing believers to an upstart pantheon of gods
reflecting society’s modern love of money, technology, media, celebrity
and drugs. The book centres on Shadow Moon, an ex-con who becomes
bodyguard and travelling partner to Mr. Wednesday, a conman but in
reality one of the older gods, on a cross-country mission to gather his
forces in preparation to battle the new deities.

FRANKENSTEIN CHRONICLES

EPIC TV SERIES TRAILER WITH SEAN BEAN IS HERE!

And check out the first trailer for ITV's new epic TV series THE FRANKENSTEINCHRONICLES with Sean Bean in the lead role! Ed Stoppard and our dearest Elliot Cowan also star in the 6 part series about Inspector John Marlott, who delves into the underworld of Georgian England after discovering a chopped up and reassembled child during a run-of-the-mill opium raid.THE VIDEO HAS BEEN TAKEN DOWN, WE'LL PUT A NEW ONE AS SOON AS IT COMES

It is an exquisitely boring start of the week, people, so, as usual in such cases, the spy is going Asian! First up, a very touching movie coming from China! COMING HOME from famous Yimou Zhangwill open in USA this September and has already played around the world.

LOVE NEVER FOR- GETS Lu Yanshi (Chen Daoming) and Feng Wanyu (Gong Li) are a
devoted couple forced to separate when Lu is arrested and sent to a
labor camp as a political prisoner, just as his wife is injured in an
accident. Released during the last days of the Cultural Revolution, he
finally returns home only to find that his beloved wife has amnesia and
remembers little of her past. Unable to recognize Lu, she patiently
waits for her husband's return. A stranger alone in the heart of his
broken family, Lu Yanshi determines to resurrect their past together and
reawaken his wife's memory.

'THE ASSASSIN' POSTER & CLIP

FROM CANNES FILM FESTIVAL

Another one coming from China is epic action drama which opened at Cannes Film Festival this year: THE ASSASSIN has the story set during the mighty Tang Dynasty period in Chinese history. Nie Yinniang (Shu Qi) returns to family after several years in exile. The mission of her order is to eliminate the tyrany of the Governors who avoid the authority of the Emperor. Now she will have to choose between sacrificing the man she loves (Chang Chen), or break definitively with the "order of the Assassins". The movie has a USA distributor as well!